Turkish villages quarantined as officials test dead birds for H5N1
Posted 2/8/2007 11:03 AM ET
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Turkey's Agriculture Ministry on Thursday said 170 birds died of the bird flu virus in southeastern Turkey last week and said tests were underway to determine whether it was the H5N1 strain.
Turkey was particularly hard hit last January when 12 people were infected and four died of the H5N1 strain. Authorities on Thursday said they have placed three villages under quarantine in southeastern Batman province, culling around 1,650 birds since Feb. 5.
The outbreak was first reported in the village of Bogazkoy near the town of Gercus on Feb. 5. The Agriculture Ministry on Thursday confirmed that samples tested positive for bird flu but stressed that further tests were needed to determine whether it was the deadly H5N1 strain.
Authorities were also culling fowl in the nearby villages of Aydinli and Ruzgarli and warned people against contact with birds. There was no report of any human infection in the area.
The disease has claimed at least 165 human lives worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry farms in late 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Experts worry the virus, which remains hard for people to catch, will evolve into a form that passes easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.
Posted 2/8/2007 11:03 AM ET
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Turkey's Agriculture Ministry on Thursday said 170 birds died of the bird flu virus in southeastern Turkey last week and said tests were underway to determine whether it was the H5N1 strain.
Turkey was particularly hard hit last January when 12 people were infected and four died of the H5N1 strain. Authorities on Thursday said they have placed three villages under quarantine in southeastern Batman province, culling around 1,650 birds since Feb. 5.
The outbreak was first reported in the village of Bogazkoy near the town of Gercus on Feb. 5. The Agriculture Ministry on Thursday confirmed that samples tested positive for bird flu but stressed that further tests were needed to determine whether it was the deadly H5N1 strain.
Authorities were also culling fowl in the nearby villages of Aydinli and Ruzgarli and warned people against contact with birds. There was no report of any human infection in the area.
The disease has claimed at least 165 human lives worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry farms in late 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Experts worry the virus, which remains hard for people to catch, will evolve into a form that passes easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.